Terry sat in his vest and underpants on the tenth floor of the Union Headquarters. The President would talk to Terry only in his vest and pants. He didn’t trust Terry –
Not after what Len had told him. The things Len had told him.
Len leant against the door. Len with his arms folded. Len with his eyes on Terry.
The President had counted out the packets of twenty-pound notes into three piles. Each pile contained one hundred packets. Each packet contained two hundred pounds –
There was sixty thousand pounds in used twenty-pound notes on the table.
The President looked down at the cash. The President looked back up at Terry –
‘It’s from the CGT in Paris,’ said Terry again. ‘I swear.’
‘I don’t care where it’s from,’ said the President. ‘But I care where it was going.’
‘I was bringing it here,’ said Terry. ‘To pay for the plane and the mortgages.’
‘I’d like to believe you,’ said the President. ‘I want to believe you, Comrade.’
‘Mike Sullivan is waiting for me at the airport,’ said Terry. ‘Just ask him.’
The President looked at Terry Winters. Terry Winters in his vest and underpants.
‘I swear,’ said Terry again. ‘What else would I be doing with it?’
There was a knock at the door. Silence. There was another knock at the door –
Len looked at the President. The President nodded. Len opened the door –
‘It’s urgent,’ said Joan. ‘The High Court have appointed a receiver.’
The Earth tilts, the Earth turns. The Earth hungry, the Earth hunts —
The Mechanic drives. He steals another Ford and drives South. He ditches that car and steals another. And drives. He burns this one and steals another, then another –
Her eyes wide. Her mouth open. Her nose bloody —
And drives and drives. He pushes one into the River Avon and sells another one for scrap. Hesteals the next one from a supermarket carpark –
The Earth hunts you, you run. You run, you hide. Hide in the last place –
Bypasses Worcester and Shrewsbury. Takes the A49 to Hereford then Leominster. Ludlowto Wistanstow. Joins the A489 to Church Stoke. The A490straight to Welshpool.Follows the A483 North to Llanymynech and —
The very last place.
Neil Fontaine drives the Jew and the Chairman North to Castleford. Hooded pickets armed with baseball bats attacked and badly beat a working miner in his own home at dawn yesterday morning. The man had returned to work at Fryston Colliery only four days before. He had done so because he had two young children. He had done so because he had a pregnant wife. He had done so because he had debts. He had done so because he had no way to repay his debts. He left his house at half-past four yesterday morning for a pre-arranged rendezvous with a Coal Board van. Twenty pickets were waiting for him outside his home. The pickets warned him not to go to work. The pickets made threats against his pregnant wife and two young children. The man walked back towards his house to telephone the police. The pickets called him a scab. The pickets chased him into his garden. The man ran inside his house. The pickets kicked open his door. The pickets wore combat jackets and balaclavas. The pickets carried baseball bats and pick-axe handles. The man told his pregnant wife and two young children to hide upstairs. The pickets caught the man in his own front room. The pickets set about him with their bats and steel-toe-capped boots. His wife and children listened from inside a bedroom wardrobe to their husband and their father screaming down below. The pickets broke his ankle. The pickets broke his shoulder. The pickets dislocated his elbow. The pickets dislocated his other shoulder. The pickets broke two ribs and bruised the rest. The pickets blackened his eyes. The pickets broke his nose. The Jew had been appalled when Neil had told him this tale. The Jew told Neil they must visit this Richard Clarke in his hospital bed. This lion of a man. The Chairman had been equally appalled when the Jew had told him. The Chairman told the Jew they must visit this hero in his hospital bed –
This lion of a man in his hospital bed –
‘I’ll not let them stop me,’ Richard Clarke tries to tell the Chairman and the Jew. ‘This has just made me more determined.’
The Chairman gives him autographed books about mining, and comforts his wife.
‘When he comes out of hospital he’ll go back to work,’ says pretty, pregnant Mrs Clarke. ‘We are not going to be beaten by these thugs.’
Neil Fontaine shows in Stanley Smith. Stanley also recently returned to work. Last week someone set fire to his £40,000 home in Pontefract.
The Jew steps outside. The Jew shows in the press.
The press take out their pens. The press take their photos –
‘Everyone should get back to work to change Union rules,’ says Richard Clarke. ‘NUM President should have to be re-elected every three years.’
The Jew smiles. The Jew nods. The press write. The press nod.
‘They emphasized that they would kill my two-year-old daughter,’ says Stanley. ‘And the main target in this blaze was her bedroom. That about sums it all up for me. They openly told me they would kill my daughter, and they have tried to do just that.’
The Jew dabs his eyes. The Jew nods. The press write. The press nod.
The Jew picks up a Get Well Soon card from Richard Clarke’s bedside table. The Jew shows it to the press. The Jew reads it aloud:
‘“All the best to a very brave man who deserves a medal and all the miners’ thanks. The rest of us are too scared, but you have shown the way –
‘“From another miner on strike, but not half as brave as you.”’
The Chairman lets go of pretty, pregnant Mrs Clarke. The Chairman has things to say –
‘This was a horrific and brutal attack on an innocent working man in his own home, while his beautiful wife and two children cowered upstairs, petrified and terrified. This is the visible proof of what we have been saying for months now that, but for these IRA tactics of violence and intimidation in the pit villages, many thousands more men would have gone back to work by now and this strike have soon been over.’
The Chairman puts away his piece of paper. The Chairman looks at the Jew –
The Jew looks at Richard Clarke. Richard Clarke nods. Richard Clarke says, ‘This visit was a wonderful surprise and the Chairman has given me lots of reassurance, which I needed. He told me that if I needed to move away from the area, I could do so. But I don’t think I will need to do that. He wished me a speedy recovery and asked after my wife and children. He gave me two signed books on mining, which not many folk can have. I will keep them for ever to pass on to my children, for their children, and their children’s children.’
The Jew claps. The Jew nods. The press write. The press nod –
The Jew reminds the press of the Prime Minister’s ruthless few. The Jew says –
‘They blind police horses. They spike potatoes with nails. Uproot lamp-posts and loot local shops. They use petrol bombs and ballbearings. Bottles and bricks. Air-guns and catapults. They run wires across roads to maim and decapitate police and former friends. But I would like to reassure all working miners, and the many striking miners who wish to return to their jobs, that the Board has begun a comprehensive review of security for all working miners and their families. We are well aware of the Union’s tactic of visiting and intimidating the sick and elderly parents of working miners. We condemn out of hand these attacks against the sick, the old and the lonely. These are the very members of society that the Union is supposedly pledged to defend. Measures are being taken as I speak to ensure that no working miner, or member of his family, is ever again subject to the horrific assault suffered by Mr Clarke in his own home. Thank you.’